Shards of Secrecy by N.D. Testa blitz with giveaway
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Shards of Secrecy
N.D. Testa
(The Sapphora Series, #1)
Publication date: December 18th 2024
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
Disguised as a mortal and robbed of her memory, an Egyptian sorceress is thrust into a daring quest to reclaim her fate or suffer at the hands of those who want her dead.
When a mummy attack at the city museum shatters the illusion of her ordinary life, twenty-year-old Noellia Taviani discovers a shocking truth: her entire life has been a lie. She isn’t a normal adolescent born into a Connecticut family. She is Sapphora, a princess with magical powers from the realm of Avogadro, a parallel universe to Ancient Egypt. Framed for treason against the crown and failure to fulfill a prophecy, she’s exiled to the harsh prison of Salutem. There she must relearn her craft to protect herself from those who seek to destroy her.
However, time is running out. The Nefarious Pharoah has escaped the underworld and threatens to not only conquer both realms, but to destroy everyone she loves. To stop him, Sapphora must overcome deadly challenges created by the Ancient Gods to recover a stolen spellbook before her birthday on the Winter Solstice. As she navigates this treacherous path, she’s drawn to a forbidden love with an Egyptian god, a dangerous temptation that could be her undoing.
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EXCERPT:
I enter the dim oppressive atmosphere of the Mummy Tomb, and stare at the stark glow of the glass box that houses the three-thousand-year-old sarcophagus. My breath catches in my throat when I see Alex, unconscious on the cold stone floor.
“Alex!” I sprint forward and crouch by his side. I turn him over to his back. Taking my phone I dial 911, but there is no service. Within seconds, the screen goes black, and the icon indicating the need to charge appears. I could have sworn my battery was a hundred percent a few minutes ago.
I reach forward, and place my hand against the wrinkled skin on his neck. A faint pulse kisses my fingers. Relief floods through me that Alex is still alive. But that reassurance is short-lived as a crackling sound fills the room. Turning to the glass display, my jaw drops as cracks weave through the clay sarcophagus. The case shakes violently, then the lid explodes. Pieces of the tomb smack against the plexiglass, forming chips and small cracks. My stomach twists into knots as a bandaged arm rises from inside the sarcophagus. The mummy has come back to life.
Author Bio:
N.D. Testa is a fantasy author who conjures immersive worlds filled with magic, mystery, and adventure. With a focus on inspiring hope, her stories transport readers to realms of wonder and possibility. When not lost in the pages of her imagination, she’s an avid fitness enthusiast, fashion lover, and animal advocate. From snowboarding the slopes to exploring new cultures, N.D. Testa finds inspiration everywhere. She believes in the power of books to change lives and is committed to crafting tales that resonate with readers of all ages. At night she enjoys being by the fire with a cup of tea in her hands.
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BookTrib Lit Picks: First Chapters from the Hottest Books blitz with giveaway
BookTrib Lit Picks: First Chapters from the Hottest Books
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BookTrib Lit Picks: First Chapters from the Hottest Books showcases over 50 titles from rising stars and beloved favorites. Each installment is your ticket to finding your next bookish obsession! BookTrib Lit Picks Holiday/Winter 2024 includes Patricia Cornwell, Stephen King, Meg Gardiner, Sara Shepard, Jeneva Rose, David Wroblewski, Norman Reedus, Stanley Tucci, Dean Koontz, Josh Malerman, Kate McKinnon, and many more!
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Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys (Mrs. Claus #4) by Liz Ireland #bookreview #mystery
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Title: Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys
Author: Liz Ireland
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: Sept 26, 2023
Page Count: 288
My rating: 4 stars
About the book:
It’s year-round Christmas cheer in this creative and witty mystery series featuring a unique heroine who’s married to the real-life Santa Claus and living in the North Pole. In Santaland, it’s beginning to look a lot like…Thanksgiving…and in between the festivities, April Claus must track down a killer hiding amid a parade of suspects…
At Castle Kringle, the elves are excitedly arranging their first ever Thanksgiving day feast. April’s husband, Nick—the real Santa—has some misgivings, since it’s tough to get ready for Christmas when everyone is obsessed with helium balloons and pie recipes. Chaos erupts when Gobbles, the live turkey imported for the castle feast, is bird-napped. That crime is quickly overshadowed at a pre-Thanksgiving potluck when Nick’s cousin, Elspeth, face-plants into her mashed potatoes—dead.
Someone poisoned Elspeth, and April believes Constable Crinkle is hauling the wrong suspect off to jail. An ominous message, written in what seems to be blood and urging April to stop investigating, only convinces her more. But who’s really to blame? Where is Gobbles the turkey? And can April solve a double helping of mystery in time for everyone to sit down to a non-deadly dinner together?
Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys by Liz Ireland is the fourth book in the cozy Mrs. Claus series. As with most cozy mystery series each book in the Mrs. Claus series features it’s own mystery that will be fully solved with that book so they can each be read as a standalone or in any order if choosing to do so. There will be some character development that carries over from book to book though for those that follow the series from the beginning.
April Claus was just a regular woman living in the United States when she met Nick, the man she just knew she’d be spending the rest of her life with. What April didn’t know or suspect at the time was that the wonderful Nick she was going to marry was none other than THE Santa Claus. After marrying Nick April found herself moving to Christmastown in Santaland at the North Pole and living among elves with Christmas celebrated year round.
As April’s third holiday season in Santaland is approaching she has decided to start teaching the year round Christmas village how to celebrate other holidays along the way. The elves are busy arranging the first Thanksgiving feast at Castle Kringle when chaos erupts when, Gobbles, the turkey meant to be the center of the feast is bird napped. As everyone is frantic over what to do to save the feast though Nick’s cousin Elspeth is poisoned quickly overshadowing the missing bird and leaving April a bigger mystery to solve quickly.
Liz Ireland’s Mrs. Claus series is the type of cozy that readers who favor quirky over the top characters and hilarious antics will love. When you bring in all things Christmas to a fun mystery I couldn’t help but fall in love with this series and enjoy coming back to it year after year. It was fun this time to throw in a Thanksgiving twist to all things Christmas in the town with all the normals crazy antics and I’ll definitely look forward to seeing that comes along next in the series.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Find this book online:
About the author:
Liz Ireland, author of the Mrs. Claus cozy mystery series, has written over forty works of romance, women’s fiction, and mystery. She also publishes under the names Elizabeth Bass and Liz Freeland. Originally from the United States, she now lives on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Cover Reveal: Faking the Face Off by Anne Kemp
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Faking the Face Off
Anne Kemp
Publication date: January 29th 2025
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
There’s a reason you shouldn’t fake date a friend—because the biggest mistake you’ll ever make might just be falling for them… and NEVER ever wanting to let them go.
Anna: As the assistant to the coach of the River City Renegades, my life is a whirlwind of schedules, crisis management, and saving the day when things go sideways. I love my job, but sometimes I wonder if there’s more for me out there.
Then, I discovered my dad needs help. I’ll do anything to support him—even if it means stepping out of my comfort zone. So when the team’s publicist decides Ollie Decker, my long-time friend and the Renegades ’star defenseman, needs a fake girlfriend to boost his image, I volunteer. After all, it’s just pretend, it pays, and who knows Ollie better than me? But as the lines blur, I start to realize there’s more to Ollie—and us—than I ever let myself see.
Ollie: Being on the ice is easy. Off the ice? Not so much. Apparently, I’m not “relatable” enough, and the team wants me to soften my tough guy image with a fake relationship. When Anna Denault offers to step in, I figure this’ll be a breeze. But somewhere between staged date nights and late-night strategy sessions, I stop seeing Anna as just my rock and start noticing the spark that’s been there all along.
Now I’m wondering if the biggest risk of my career isn’t losing her as a friend but losing her entirely.
She could be the biggest mistake I’ve ever made…but also the only one I’ll never regret.
Faking the Face Off is a closed door hockey romcom that includes tropes like fake dating, friends to lovers, forced proximity, and found family. This is the first book in a closed door hockey series with sizzling chemistry and swoony kisses.
Author Bio:
Anne Kemp is a bestselling author of romantic comedies. She loves reading (and she does it ridiculously fast, too!), gluten-free baking (because everyone needs a hobby that makes them crazy), and finding time to binge-watch her favorite shows. She grew up in Maryland but made
Los Angeles her home until she encountered her own real-life meet-cute at a friend’s wedding where she ended up married to one of the groomsmen. For real.
Anne now lives on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand, and even though she was married at Mt. Doom, no…she doesn’t have a Hobbit. However, she and her husband do have a terrier named George Clooney and when she’s not writing, she’s usually with them taking a long walk on the river by their home.
You can find Anne on her website – come say hi! She’d love to hear from you: http://www.annekemp.com
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Take Me Home for Christmas by Tracy Solheim blitz with giveaway
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Take Me Home for Christmas
Tracy Solheim
(Chances Inlet Contemporary Romance, #5)
Publication date: December 12th 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
In the quaint coastal town of Chances Inlet, Christmas is a time for rekindling lost connections . . .
Elinor “Elle” McAlister is on the brink of a big-time promotion that will finally put her on equal footing with her overachieving siblings. The catch? She has to babysit a notoriously prickly war reporter who’s late delivering his memoir. As if that weren’t enough, her editor banishes them both to Elle’s hometown on the Carolina coast to get the job done. Spending the holidays in Chances Inlet might have been fine—if only she hadn’t wrecked the most important relationship in her life during her visit last Christmas.
Deputy Sheriff Hayden Lovell has known Elle was his person ever since she swiped his purple crayon back in kindergarten. Through every twist and setback, her steady friendship has been his anchor, especially after he returned from combat with wounds that run deep. But everything changed last New Year’s Eve when Elle surprised him with a kiss, stirring feelings he didn’t realize he had. Now that she’s back in town and keeping her distance, Hayden wonders if that moment meant as much to her as it did to him.
Chances Inlet has a knack for bringing people together. With Christmas around the corner, can Elle and Hayden rewrite their story before the holiday spirit fades? Join them in a heartwarming tale of love, friendship, and the magic of second chances in a town that knows how to celebrate Christmas like no other.
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EXCERPT:
“Do you know who Everett West is?” Madelaine asked.
Everyone with access to a television knew who Everett West was. He’d been a globe-trotting war reporter for the past thirty-five years.
“He’s writing his memoir,” Elle responded. “We are serializing it in the magazine. The number of readers downloading the chapters has quadrupled over the past three months.”
Helen beamed at her. “Impressive. You know your stats about other aspects of the magazine besides your own.”
“The serialization is meant to whet the appetite of readers in hopes of getting them to order the book when we release it in July,” Madelaine explained.
“The problem we have,” Helen added, “is that Everett hasn’t quite finished the manuscript despite signing a contract stipulating he would complete it by the first of this month.”
“Oh.” Elle looked between the two women, still unsure what this had to do with her.
Helen shook her head. “Mm. Men aren’t always good at keeping their promises as I’m sure you are aware, Elinor.”
Whoa!
Was Helen apologizing for her worm of a grandson?
Madelaine leaned forward in her chair. “We need Everett to finish this book by the end of the year, or the magazine will run out of material to serialize.”
“And we won’t have any way to fulfill those preorders,” Elle added.
“Exactly!” Helen slapped her palm on the table.
Elle continued to gaze at the two women, trying to divine some sort of explanation as to why they were telling her this. “That’s a serious problem for the entire company.”
“Everett doesn’t seem to be able to focus on the manuscript here in New York.” Madelaine sighed. “Too many distractions.”
“Too many cronies to go out drinking with, you mean,” Helen muttered.
If Madelaine agreed with her boss ’sentiments, she was too professional to show it. “We need him to go someplace quiet, someplace with a lot slower pace and fewer diversions so he can buckle down and get the job done.”
The man had reported from deep below the ocean inside a Polaris submarine, while rumbling along in a tank in Iraq, and even while embedded in the Afghan desert with special forces. Surely, he didn’t need a convent to finish his memoir? He already knew the ending, after all.
“Do you need me to research some potential places?” Elle asked.
“No, no, dear girl.” Helen waved a hand. “In fact, Jeremy gave me the most brilliant idea earlier this week when we met for dinner. He was reminiscing wistfully about the wonderful times he spent when you two visited your mother’s inn in North Carolina.”
Elle tried not to bristle. Why would Jeremy be “reminiscing wistfully” about the Tide Me Over Inn? He only visited there twice. Now that she thought about it, both times he found something to complain about—from the inn to Chances Inlet. He’d found the whole town to be “provincial.”
“My mother’s inn? You want Mr. West to go there to finish his book?”
Both women nodded.
“Um, sure. I’m happy to check with her to see what openings she has. Christmas time is usually as popular as the summer months in Chances Inlet, though. I can research some backup inns just in case.”
Please, Mom, don’t let your inn be full.
“No need.” Helen grinned. “I’ve already spoken with your mother. She’s arranged a suite for Everett through the end of the year.”
“Oh.” Elle was surprised her mom hadn’t said something to her. “That’s great. Do you need me to make any other arrangements for him?”
“Everything is all taken care of.” Helen stood. “You’ll both be flying out first thing tomorrow. Everett has less than five weeks to finish his damn book. I’m counting on you, Elinor, to see that he does. If it comes down to it, chain him to a chair. Stand over him twenty-four hours a day. Whatever it takes.” She gave Elle’s shoulder a gentle squeeze as she walked past. “I know you’re up to the task.”
The publisher was out of the room before Elle realized the impact of her words.
“Wait. What?” she whispered. “No, no, no.”
Author Bio:
USA Today bestselling author Tracy Solheim writes books with shirtless men on the cover. Some of them are actually best-sellers. The books, not the men. When she’s not writing, she’s practicing her curling. . . bottles of wine, that is. She’s been known to cook dinner but no more than two nights in a row. Most days, she’d rather be reading, which to her is just necessary research. She lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her husband and a neurotic Labrador retriever. Her two adult children visit but not often enough. (See the note above about cooking.) Check out her romantic suspense series featuring the Men of the Secret Service–shirtless, of course! See what she’s up to at http://www.tracysolheim.com
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